Playlist: December 29, 2010

Playlist: December 29, 2010

7:00
Tomoko Sugawara - Cantiga de Santa Maria No. 249 (Along the Silk Road)
Shajarian and Kalhor - Festive Occasion (Night Silence Desert)
Raquy & the Cavemen - Debke (Naked)

7:22
Natacha Atlas - I put a spell on you (The best of Natacha Atlas)
Haifa Wehbe - Bade Eish, Howa el Zaman (Bade Eish)
Said Mrad - Esmerim

7:39
No Blues - Columbus Stockade (Farewell Shalabiye)
Yoko Kanno/Tank! - The Egg and I (Cowboy Bebop Soundtrack No Disc)
Cheb Mami - Azwaw 2 (Meli Meli)
The Mother Fakirs - Twirling Toward Shambalah
Wine and Alchemy - Marco Polo (Samsara)

8:03
Wine and Alchemy - Rumelaj, Syrto, Kashmir (Samsara
Ubaka Hill - Ride the Wind (Beyond the Wind)
Dahui - Zaouli/Sinte (Ensemble du Rhythm)

8:36
Amadou and Mariam - Politic Amagni
Angelique Kidjo feat. Dave Mathews - Iwoya
Ghana Hot Hitz - Boy Bi Gyege Me
Miriam Makeba - Pata Pata
Ubaka Hill - Don't Ever Stop (Dance the Spiral Dance)

Playlist: December 22, 2010

Playlist: December 22, 2010

7:00
Tomoko Sugawara - Cantiga de Santa Maria No. 249, & 231 (Along the Silk Road)
Tim Rayborn - Non deve null' ome (Rihla)
Voyage - Tablat Barhum, Kelim Dance (Kelim Dance)
Divahn - Ya Ribon Alam

7:25
Suhaila Salimpour feat. Susu Pampinin - Bongo Funk (Fate)
Wine and Alchemy - Marco Polo, Samsara, Djun Djun, Cuando el Rey Nimrod (Samsara)
Knossos - Tarak, Black Bedouin (Dark light in the wake of silence)

8:05
Tomas Michaud - Little Drummer Boy, O Come Emanuel (We Three Strings)
The Klezmonauts - Santa Gey Gezunderheit, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Jingle Bells (Oy to the World!)

8:30
Rivertribe - O Come All Ye Faithful, Elements/We Three Kings, Once in Royal David's City, O Holy Night (Rivertribe Christmas)
Celtic Woman - Don Oiche Ud I mBeithil [That Night in Bethlehem] (A Christmas Celebration)

Playlist: December 15, 2010

Playlist: December 15, 2010

7:00
Tomoko Sugawara - The waves of Kokonor (Along the Silk Road)
Raquy & the Cavemen - Sandansko (Jordan)
Ruben van Rompaey - Oasis (Eastern Expressions)
Zachary J. Mechlem - Sameera

7:22
Raquy & the Cavemen - Bewitched (Bewitched)
Susu & the Cairo Cats - Cleopatra's Frenzy (Dancing Drums)
Dimitrie Cantemir - Los Paxaricos: Macicho de Rosas, Taksim, Der makam-I Muhayyer ushulesh Muhammes (Istanbul)
The Two Tenors & Quantara - Tallu Habaabna, God Be With You O Lily
Ehab Tawfik - Ya Salam, Heya Naksak (Hobek Alemni)

8:05
Om Shanti Om Soundtrack - Dard e Disco
Slumdog Millionaire - Ringa Ringa, Liquid Dance
Dil Bole Hadippa - Bhangra Bister
Lagaan Soundtrack - O Paalanhaare, Mitwa

8:33
Om Shanti Om - Deewangi Deewangi
Chandi Chowk to China - Chandi Chowk to China
James Asher - Prayer Wheel (Tigers of the Raj)
Sanjay Mishra feat. Jerry Garcia - Clouds

The long history of the hammered dulcimer

Lately I've been reading up about hammered dulcimers. Today, hammered dulcimers are typically associated with Celtic and American folk music, but their history and influence stretch across most of Europe and Asia dating back for centuries.

Basically there has been some form or another of a common instrument that has gone by many names. It is essentially a stringed instrument shaped like a trapezoid and the sound is made by striking the strings with little hammers. In the picture at the top of this post is a Persian santur, which may have been in existence 1800 - 2000 years ago in Central Asia. In India its incarnation is known as a santoor.



This instrument is a tsymbaly. The tsymbaly has been present in Russian and Ukranian culture since the ninth century. Other Eastern European cultures have very similar instruments with very similar names.

The Chinese yangqin (below) also looks very similar -- though scholars debate whether it was derived from a Central Asian ancestor or invented in China independent of outside influence.



Either way, other East Asian cultures have their own versions of the instrument, from the Korean yanggeum to the khim of Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos.

During the Middle Ages in Western Europe there was some form of salterio or psaltery. While there is some confusion as to whether some of these instruments were plucked instead of struck by hammers, there remains a common connection in the shape of the instrument and even the similar-sounding names. (Try saying "santur" and "psalter" out loud together to hear the connection.)

Eventually someone figured out how to create a hammered instrument that wouldn't need to be re-tuned nearly as often as a santur/dulcimer/etc. The hammers and strings were put into a larger box, and the hammered were hooked up to a long row of keys so that notes could be played with a light touch of the fingers. And, voila, we have a much more familiar instrument to Western audiences:



Thanks go to Wikipedia, from which most of this superficial exploration derives. For more information on the subject, I've embedded links to various pages within the text above. From the Wikipedia entries you can also find more external resources -- you know, if you want to go beyond the basic overview of the instrument and its history.

Playlist: December 8, 2010

Playlist: December 8, 2010

7:00
Johannes Linstead - (Mediterranea)
Raquy & the Cavemen - Obama Ayub (Bewitched)
Zachary J. Mechlem - Tabla Taxim, Three if By Desert (Sameera)

7:18
Chris Gacsi - Gacsi's Karatchi, Lama Bada (One)
Divahn - Yodukha Rayonai
Simon Shaheen - Saraab (Blue Flame)
Balkanika - Anathema

7:40
Gypsy Guerrilla Band - Araber Tanz, Bekledim de Gelmedin Waltz (Ernie's Ottoman)
Mile Kitic - (track and album info unknown)
Groove Alla Turka - El Nino, Two by Two

8:00
Husnu Shenlenirici & Laco Tayfa - Harmandali (Bergama Gaydasi)
Simply Tsfat - Vnisgav
Turkish Pop Woman (Info unknown)

8:19
Nikitov - Shvarts Bistu Shvarts, Rumeynien Trink Melodye (Vanderlust)
Klezmer Juice - Freylach in D
Metropolitan Klezmer - Uncle Moses' Wedding Dance, Terkisher Navratilova (Surprising Finds)
Vagabond Opera - Rumeneye, Rumeneye

8:43
Klezmer Connexion - I Saw An Angel (Magic Carpet Ride)
The Isle of Klezbos - Abi Gezunt Medley
Metropolitan Klezmer - Nokh a Gleyzl Vayn (Yiddish for Travelers)

Playlist: December 1, 2010

Playlist: December 1, 2010

7:00
Turkish Nines
Sirocco - Tribal Dance (Volume II)
Raquy & the Cavemen - Jordan, Riq Samai (Jordan)

7:26
Bashir Abdel 'Aal - Accordion Taksim, Baladi (Bellydance from Egypt: Gamil Gamal)
George Abdo - Raks Araby
(Unknown) Erev Shel Shoshanim
Nawal al-Zoghbi - Akher Marra, Yama Alou
Sting feat. Cheb Mami - Desert Rose (Brand New Day)
Cheb Mami - Azwaw 2 (Meli Meli)

8:00
Faudel - Dis-Moi (Baida)
Maghrebika feat. Bill Laswell - Mathkafsh (Neftakhir)
Cheb i Sabbah - Neti Neti (As Far As: A DJ Mix); Esh 'Dani, Alash Mshit (La Ghriba)

8:31
Zap Mama - Abadou (Adventures in Afropea I)
Isle of Klezbos - Revery in Hijaz
Nikitov - Trink Bider (Vanderlust)
Metropolitan Klezmer - Ken O'Hara Freylech (Yiddish for Travelers)
Gypsy Guerrilla Band - Araber Tanz (Ernie's Ottoman)
Klezmer Connexion - One More Dance (Play a Song in Yiddish)